System Down
by Invoked Ophiuchus
Summary: After the events of Primal Resonance, Geo searches for a way to take down the Singularity once and for all. He finds a crack in the world and reaches out to it, only for it to drag him to a truly alien place...


**First time writing about Granblue Fantasy and this is what I do?**

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The fight on the old Astral battleground had ended in his loss. Beaten by the four primals and the Singularity, Geo had no choice but to flee with his tail between his legs. He soared far through the skies, away from skydwellers, primal beasts and the dark-skinned primal with the dragon-the Grand Order herself.

He came to rest in a deserted spot near the Celestial Strait-a path of barren earth suspended in the orange-red skies, bordering the convolutions in space and time. He needed to recuperate and think, make sense of the emotions clamoring for attention inside of him.

"Damn that Singularity…" Geo seethed. The wounds inflicted by them had since healed, but the phantom pain still burned. Damn them, damn the girl in blue for saving them all those years ago, damn that insufferable, persistent crew of his! To think they would go as far as to turn his fellow primal beasts against him...did their avarice and arrogance know no bounds?

His fist came down onto the hard rock, shattering it. Dust and chunks of earth flew up and fell down into the bottomless pits of the sky. The catharsis was real, but short-lived. It reminded him of his failures. He hadn't been able to convince Medusa and the other primals to accept the wonderful tranquility. The slaughterfests on the Astral battleground would continue and his brethren would be brutalized over and over again during the waking season.

A lesser being—like a cowardly mortal—would have cried. Geo knew it did he was loath to admit it, the Singularity was powerful. Not just in terms of raw strength, but also because of the volume of allies they had attracted. One of which was the Grand Order herself.

The fact that the two were associated with one another was interesting and worrying. As another embodiment of the World, the Grand Order was an opponent he could not take likely. She could and would pursue him until the end of time if need be. And when combined with the fact that he would not be fighting just her, but also the Singularity and their allies…

He needed an edge over them, but what?

Perhaps the World would know.

Inhaling and exhaling, he forced himself to calm down. He crossed his legs, closed his eyes and attuned himself with the source that birthed him. The agony and despair of primal beasts and the peace they so deserved. He sense his place in the World and expanded his perception outwards. In that moment, he could feel (was) the winds skimming the islands, the magic rising from the cores of the islands, the many emotions of primal beasts as they lived and breathed and...

There!

In the distance of his perception, a strange spark glowed. A fissure in the World, radiating an unfamiliar energy, foreboding yet enticing. He reached out and was shocked by the sheer power behind it. It was all six elements at once, bore the signature of all races (even the Unknowns) and was more pure than any magic or power he had ever encountered in the World.

What was this? A part of the World he and the Grand Order had overlooked? If he mastered it, could it allow him to defeat the Grand Order and the Singularity?

His curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to it. The source latched onto him with a thousand invisible threads and dragged him inwards. He struggled to break free immediately, but it was futile.

He was flying through a dark tunnel towards a bright light. He could hear whispers around him, speaking in an unfamiliar language. His senses faded, the light overwhelmed him and then he was falling, tumbling and rolling to a stop against something metallic and heavy.

He climbed to his feet, rubbing a sore spot on his head.

"Where am I?" He said. This place was unfamiliar to him.

He was standing in a dimly-lit room. Surrounding him were tall metal boxes packed in tight rows, each one roughly the average height of a male draph. Each one emitted a soft, humming noise, occasionally interrupted by a few sharp beeps and clicks. Geo walked over to one of the metal boxes and rested his palm on the surface. The metal felt cool and dry to the touch. Small pinpricks of light flashed from tiny glass orbs on the boxes.

He looked up. Pale light shone from bigger orbs attached to the ceiling. The air was dry and cold. The floor was the same. The energy he felt from earlier was nowhere to be found.

The more he inspected this new place, the more confused Geo became. Where was this? Why had the fracture in the World's fabric brought him here? Did mortals create this room and its appliances? Their methods were incomprehensible and profane, but from what he had studied of them, Geo couldn't remember anything resembling these metal boxes appearing in their civilisations.

But nothing existed without purpose, so Geo decided to explore the room further. He walked between a hallway formed by the rows of boxes. His footsteps made dull, clopped noises upon an unfamiliar floor. For all the power he possessed, the constant whirring and beeping combined with the lack of any other intelligent life set him on edge. Something was wrong here, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He stumbled across a table propped by metal rods. On it were several sheets of fading paper, accompanied by another odd device. It was a framed, rectangular slab of black glass suspended by a matching stand. The word 'SAMSUNG' was displayed at the bottom of the frame in iron-grey writing.

Beneath the frame was a flat board with a small grey rope trailing out of its top towards the back of the table. Little squares with letters, numbers and symbols printed on them were atop the board like neatly-arranged dice. Geo tentatively raised a finger and pressed down a square with the letter 'A'. The material felt like a cross between rubber and wood—definitely something alien to the World.

The little square hit its bottom and the glass in front of him exploded with light. Geo cringed for a moment, before his eyes adjusted to the bright glare. His eyes widened. Words had appeared on the glass!

**WELCOME TO GRANBLUE FANTASY DATA STORAGE**

**Tip of the day: Many things are worthless, but player masochism is forever.**

**How may I serve you, xxServerAdmin69xx, nano?**

**UNITE AND FIGHT RECORDS 1/1/2015 - 22/6/2019**

**A Unite and Fight event is currently running! Its element is EARTH. Do NOT make any changes to the algorithms until it has concluded.**

**INPUT YOUR COMMAND**

**1\. View Records**

**2\. Edit Records**

**3\. Delete Records**

**4\. Help**

**5\. Exit**

**A**

Geo blinked. He read and re-read the text on the glass, his face contorting more and more with confusion. Data storage? View Records? A library, perhaps, but in this tiny glass frame?

He pressed the square with a '1' on the board. A beep resounded through his ears and more text appeared on the glass.

**Make your selection**

**1\. Text  
2\. Video**

Pressing the '1' square brought forth even more text on the screen. It came in big chunks, all of it filled with terms he could not understand. It spoke of mysterious 'players' performing tasks against 'enemy units' with varying identification numbers, then went into details about both parties' overall success rates. He tried reading a few of the text chunks, but gave up quickly. He couldn't see how this related to warfare; it was useless to him.

What would happen if he pressed the '2' square? The text vanished and an image appeared on the screen. Geo gaped at the sight. It was the old Astral battlefield, the one he had fought Medusa, her friends and the Singularity on. How was it inside the glass? He reached out to it and his fingers brushed against the smooth surface instead

The word READY appeared above the battleground in golden letters. A primal beast fell from the sky—Varuna if he was not mistaken—and the Singularity and his companions showed up. Geo growled at the despicable mortal, then noticed something off. Why was the Singularity and their companions so small? They looked like cloth dolls with dummy weapons facing off against the majestic sea goddess on the enormous octopus.

The tiny Singularity waved their weapons and flashes of light and sound assaulted the Varuna within the glass. Numbers floating above her head and a small red bar high in the sky steadily shrunk and shrunk. Eventually, the words '4-CHAIN' appeared and Varuna vanished nothingness. The tiny Singularity had...won?

The battleground vanished, only to be replaced by another view of it. A mountainside view as opposed to a freshwater spring. This time, Titan appeared, heaving his magnificent steel blade and boasting his majestic muscles. The Singularity ran from the right, accompanied by different companions and the 'fight' began again.

Again the Singularity won and another scene replaced it. It was always the same thing: the Singularity fighting against primal beasts on various parts of the old battleground. At the end of each one, numbers on the glass would rise. This went on for minutes, then hours.

Geo watched these scenes with a mixture of fascination and trepidation. Then, that became shock, horror and finally it all clicked together. All his restraint, confusion and interest caved into sheer, hot-red anger. He screamed and howled and flung his fist at the glass frame. It shattered on impact, raining a shower of sparks and shards upon him. He barely registered them, grabbing the miniature board and throwing it against the wall. It broke, raining the little squares upon the ground.

The primal cores inside him awakened, raged, sent his internals into overdrive. He drew his sword and swung it at the nearest metal box. It was sliced in half immediately. A beam of energy flew out of the swords tip and punched a gaping, burning hole in the adjacent box.

It wasn't enough. Geo shouted a curse and swung his sword again. Down the metal boxes went. The room was filled with thunderous crashes and the scent of smoke and carbon. The primal cores inside him continued to rage, urging him to pump out more attacks, relinquish his restraints, destroy destroy **destroy. **

His mind replayed the scenes on the glass frame over and over again. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of instances of the Singularity and his comrades slaughtering his brethren over and over again. Laughing, cheering and shouting as they executed their combination attacks, vaporizing primal beasts before they even had a chance to defend themselves. And for what?

Not for ideology, wealth or even for the pursuit of power…

But simply to make numbers rise.

He couldn't comprehend the full purpose behind this room, but he understood that it was the reason behind the seasonal slaughterfests on the old battleground. Therefore, it was his duty to wipe this place from existence. Not a single metal box could be left behind. He needed to destroy any other rooms connected to this one as well…

"My, my, what have we here?"

Geo turned around. Standing at an entrance of the room was a human man. He had neatly trimmed black hair, slanted brown eyes and thin lips. He was dressed in a dark navy suit with a checkered shirt beneath. He strode between the fallen metal boxes towards Geo, seemingly unconcerned with the destruction and fires starting from the fallen boxes.

"Is that you, Geo?" The man's voice was composed, soft and it made the hairs on Geo's neck stand on end. There was a small smile plastered on his pale face and it was anything but comforting. "I'm amazed. Out of all the characters to have made it here, it's you."

"Who are you?" Geo demanded.

"I am the man who owns this server room. The room which you have just destroyed and caused millions worth of damage." The man responded. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Geo snarled and pointed his blade at the man. The man raised an eyebrow in response.

"Are you the one behind all this?" Geo said.

"You'll have to be more specific." The man said. "I am in charge of many things."

"Don't act dumb!" Geo shouted. "Did you entice all the skyfarers to come to the homes of my brethren and let them be slaughtered for simple amusement? I saw what was on that moving glass!"

"Moving glass? Ah, the computer." The man said, crossing his arms. "I see, I see. Yes, you would be upset about it. I remember the scenario writers had quite some fun using meta knowledge to come up with your personality."

The tip of Geo's sword began to glow with gathering magic. "It seems you are confirming what I said." He growled.

"I suppose so, since I am charge of those writers." The man said. Despite being faced with an extremely irate primal beast, an embodiment of the World at that, he still was not cowed in the slightest. "What objections do you have?"

White light surrounded Geo and poured into his sword's blade. It radiated an intensity that could give the sun pause. Geo swung in a wide arc, the energy from the attack forming a perfect circle. More metal boxes were blasted aside, falling like dominos before exploding into flames. The man's smile disappeared, much to Geo's satisfaction, but that turned into confusion when he simply shook his head and sighed.

"Ah, the players will be furious again...do you know what you've done, Geo?"

Geo settled into a traditional swordsman's stance. "For the sake of all primal beasts, I will strike you down and put an end to these mindless slaughterfests." He declared, "Prepare yourself human, for am I the one who will bring the world's tranq—"

The man strolled up and drove his fist into Geo's face. Pain and blood flashed through his vision. He was knocked flat on his back.

"It seems." The man grinned sadistically, cracking his knuckles, "That I need to teach you some discipline."

He drove his fist towards where Geo lay. Geo recovered, grabbed his weapon and dodged a second before the fist hit. When he got onto his feet, he saw a miniature crater at ground zero of the fist's impact.

So this human was no pushover, having drawn first blood. It mattered not. He would fight on. Losing was not an option here.

Snarling, Geo attacked again, summoning the power of Freyr this time. A harsh gale blew through the smoky room and his sword glowed with the power of the wind. The resulting strike would have given a primarch pause, but the man batted aside the strike as if he were swatting a fly. The man then kicked Geo in the stomach, causing him to retch and stumble back.

"Is that all you got?" The man mocked, gesturing with his hand. "Come Geo, fight for those dear primals of yours!"

Screaming obscenities, Geo rose up and charged. He unleashed every attack he knew, all the spells, techniques and styles the accumulated primals within him had experienced, but the results were the same every time. No matter what he did, the man would deflect each and every one of his strikes before retaliating with a much more powerful one of his own. Quick jabs, powerful thrusts and even an uppercut that knocked him up to the ceiling and down like a bouncing ball.

Throughout the one-sided fight, the man kept smiling. As if he were a child messing with ants beneath a magnifying glass. As if he were Geo himself back on the deserted battleground, toying with Baal and his seemlingly fruitless attempts to break out from his gasp…

Geo roared again and surged forth with the last vestiges of his power. His body twisted and transformed into the shape he had fought the Singularity with. A monstrous, Frakenstein-esque being comprised of dragons and demons, with his torso positioned at the top.

"So, you have gotten serious. This was bound to happen." The man noted. He chuckled and brought his fists up once more. A strange energy swirled out from his back. "Then, out of respect for your tenacity,I shall do the same."

"This ends now!" Geo shouted and moved to rush the man...only for his instincts to halt him at the last second. What was going on? Why were they telling him to flee from his man, from the room and hide in the furthest corners of the World?

No, not now! His nerves couldn't hold him back now! The enemy was right in front of him. He could not let something as simple as cowardice hold him back from the tranquility he and his brethren desired!

That's when he saw it. An ominous, big, black shadow rising up from behind the man, coalescing into the form of a massive, muscular figure with fists as large as boulders and features that could rival the fiercest of dragons.

"Oira…" The Shadow rumbled, guttural and demonic. The man let out a hearty chuckle and stomped towards Geo, the Shadow trailing. Geo was paralyzed. He couldn't move. He couldn't do anything but stare and sweat as the shadow got closer and closer and closer—

And then the man and the Shadow were right in his face, fists outstretched.

"OIRA!" The man and the Shadow roared together, slamming their combined punches into Geo's face. His nose broke. They pulled back and punched again.

"OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA OIRA **OOOOOIIIIRRAAAAAA**!"

It was a meteor storm of punches, each blow more furious than the last. They slammed against his face, torso, arms, legs and even his crotch. Every blow sent waves of disruption through his cores, ripping apart his vitality and will to fight. Bones shattered, flesh was torn asunder and his transformed form was demolished in a manner of seconds.

Several extremely painful seconds later, he was flat on the ground, his entire body more pulp than flesh, while the man in the suit hadn't even so much as broken a sweat.

"What...are...you?" Geo rasped, each breath a monumental effort. Most of his teeth were gone. "Your words from earlier…if you have such power, then…"

"You're on the precipice of understanding." The man intoned, arms crossed. "That could be a problem."

"At least tell me why! My fellow primals! Those innocent primals, whose only crime is simply existing during waking season…" Geo moaned. "Are those numbers truly that important to you mortals?"

The man smirked and crouched down. The flickering flames and the lights above cast a dark shadow over the bruised and beaten Geo.

"Oh, my dear Geo, your efforts are admirable." The man said. "In the eyes of the primal beasts, you are no doubt a saint. Even the Singularity cannot truly hate you, given that you only wish for peace and justice. But for us, well…"

He leaned forward whispered the last words, silent as the reaper's scythe.

"...futility does make for a wonderful story."

Something snapped inside Geo's head. Despair, hatred and anger swirled inside and mixed together to form a fragment of willpower. It was brittle and pathetic, but it was also just enough for him to struggle to his feet and face the man once more.

"I won't give up...I won't!" He said. His knees threatened to buckle the moment he stood. Black spots appeared at the corner of his blurred vision. Yet, he raised his sword, as slippery as it felt in his grasp, and squeezed as much energy as he could muster towards his hand. "For the sake of all primals, I won't let you continue your twisted games any further-"

The Shadow's fist came down once more upon his head. With that, Geo's consciousness came to an end. Satisfied, the Shadow vanished back into the man's soul.

Kimura Yuito, producer of Granblue Fantasy, stood up and dusted off his suit. It was ruined; luckily all the revenue from administrating some of the most popular mobile games in the world had given him more than enough cash to afford a few spares. He took in the sight of the ruined server room and sighed.

He reached into his suit pocket and took out a mobile phone.

"This is your esteemed Producer. One of the characters escaped the simulation. No, it wasn't Djeeta or Lyria again, it was Geo." Kimura paused to listen to the other end. "Surprising, isn't it? We'll have to take his case into account when creating similar characters. Can't have them escaping again, after all."

He crossed to the wall and pressed down on a red button. Sprinklers activated on the ceiling, dousing the flames.

"He's damaged the server room quite heavily. The current, Unite and Fight will have to be postponed for a few hours. Bring up the repairmen to this place, stat. No, don't place Geo in the old Djeeta cage. Wipe his memory and throw him back into the simulation. Reinforce the barriers the moment you do so."

Kimura knelt down, still holding his phone, and pressed his fingers to Geo's neck. There was a pulse. How interesting. Too bad he couldn't stick around to analyse the body more. Not in this environment at least.

"As for the players...give them crystals, meat and tokens. But hold back the Princess Connect collab until the 27th. We don't want them to think we're too generous."

Smirking a little, Kimura turned and headed for the door. He stepped aside as a team of men dressed in a Cygames Hazard Uniform™ rushed into the room. They bandaged Geo's wounds, bound his hands and feet, then tossed him on a stretcher and carried him out the door. Another group of men with cleaning equipment began tidying up the broken servers and calculating repair costs.

Within minutes, there was no trace that Geo had ever existed in the server room. Pleased, Kimura Yuito exited the server room and headed back to his office, his mind whirring with possible scenarios and events based off the recent fight.

The world turned, the players grinded their hearts out and Granblue Fantasy lived on.

* * *

**Muse part 1: You should write about Gran and Djeeta**

**Muse part 2: Actually you should write about Guild Wars memes. **

**Me: Memes?**

**Muse part 2: Yes, especially memes found on Granblue Twitter!**

**Me: Excellent idea, Muse part 2!**

**I'm not an expert with Granblue characterization or lore so please tell me if I got anything wrong. Feedback would be highly appreciated.**


End file.
